South By South East
| File:South By South East cover.jpg 2007 edition cover | |
| Author | Anthony Horowitz |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Series | The Diamond Brothers |
| Genre | Children's novel |
| Publisher | Lions (1991) Walker Books (2007) |
Publication date | 14 March 1991 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Paperback (1991) Hardback (2005) |
| Pages | 208 pp |
| ISBN | 978-0006738213 |
| OCLC | 24698306 |
| Preceded by | Public Enemy Number Two |
| Followed by | The French Confection |
South by South East is a children's comedy adventure written by Anthony Horowitz, first published in 1991. It is the third book in the Diamond Brothers series about the incompetent detective Tim Diamond and his smart younger brother Nick. A television series based on the book was broadcast on CITV.
Plot summary
The Diamond brothers are broke as usual. They have just moved into a cheap when suddenly a mysterious man (Jake McGuffin), bursts into their office, tells Tim someone is trying to kill him, an assasin who is trying to murder a Russian diplomat, offers Tim a wad of cash for his coat and disappears as quickly as he came, leaving his own coat behind. When Nick bends down to pick up the coat, something falls out of one of the pockets: a key. There is a plastic tag attached to it and in bright red letters: Room 605, London International Hotel.
When Tim and Nick go outside, they find the man lying in a telephone box, dying from a gunshot wound. His last words, drowned out by a train, sounded like "suff bee suff iss", or was it "south by southeast"?
Suddenly, the Diamond Brothers are thrown into an extremely hazardous and risky adventure involving MI6 and their chase for Charon. Charon is the code name of an assassin, the head of a gigantic murder organization. Nobody knows who Charon is as he can disguise himself extremely rapidly. There is only one way of recognizing Charon - he has lost a finger, therefore he only has nine. Charon's men are responsible for the murder of Jake McGuffin, who was aware of Charon's plan to murder a Russian diplomat, Boris Kusenov.
The Diamond brothers become wanted by the Police after Charon gives Tim a suitcase containing a bomb when he is going for an interview at the bank and it goes off.
The action is fast, furious and funny, with Nick having to save the hapless Tim from deadly situations one after the other, including an airplane chase, a deadly magical show, and the horror that is in the Tunnel of Love.
Allusions to other works
The title is a play on the Hitchcock film North by Northwest, and there are allusions to Hitchcock's films throughout the book.
Television adaptation
South by South-East was made into a TV series in 1991, written and directed by Anthony Horowitz and produced by Stephen Bayly. It was broadcast on CITV in six half hour episodes. [1]
As in the film Just Ask for Diamond, Dursley McLinden played Tim and Colin Dale played Nick. Michael Feast played Snape, Gordon Wynter played Boyle and Michael Gough played Mr. Waverly. There were also cameo appearances by Jenny Agutter and Anna Massey. As many elements of the story are homages to Hitchcock, a well-known Hitchcock impersonator appeared at some point in each episode.[2]
Ending to the book.
SPOILER ALERT!
The boys' later find out what Jake McGuffin said was 'Sotheby's, Tsar's Feast.' They race over to Sotheby's, where they know that TNT is under the seat. They get into a wrestle which gets the two police officers involved, and the painting gets destroyed. The police officers get credited, and they refer to Nick as 'an unknown boy.'
Charlotte Van Dam (Charon) invites Tim to the tunnel of love, where she plans to kill him. Nick finds out that Charlotte is Charon, and goes to stop her. Nick's clever thinking makes Charon fall into the river, and she gets electrocuted.
References
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